The Penticton Vees win the Okanagan Cup, beating out the Vernon Vipers

Photo: Cherie Morgan/Cherie Morgan Photography

The Penticton Vees take home the inaugural Okanagan Cup trophy, winning against the Vernon Vipers 3-2 on Saturday night.

The game went into overtime when teams were tied 2-2 in the third period. 

Jacob Quillan played the hero in overtime for the Penticton Vees’ victory over the Vernon Vipers on Saturday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.   

The Vipers would be first to score in the opening period of the cup’s game, with player Ryan Shostak received the pass and fired a shot that was kicked out by the right pad of Vees goaltender Yaniv Perets before Shostak jumped on his own rebound and beat Perets through the legs at the almost ten minutes in to give Vernon a 1-0 lead.  

The Vees came back just over three minutes later, and evened the score at a face-off. Tristan Amonte gathered the puck and snapped a shot over the shoulders of Vipers goal tender Koen MacInnes for his fourth Okanagan Cup goal.  

The second period did not see either team score, with just eight shots being thrown to the net combined between the two sides. 

Penticton managed to gain their first lead of the game at the near the seven minute mark of the third period as Matteo Costantini pushed his team in front with his sixth goal of the Okanagan Cup. Costantini got the puck in the left face-off circle and past the glove side of MacInnes to give the Vees a 2-1 lead.  

But during the Penticton’s penalty kill with only five minutes left to play, Viper Will Arquiett faked a slapshot before stepping inside the right face-off circle and moving to his backhand, scoring against Perets near the end of the third to even the score at 2-2 and send the Okanagan Cup Final to overtime.  

In overtime, following a save from Perets, the Vees turned the puck into the offensive end where Quillan grabbed a loose puck and snapped a shot through MacInnes for his fifth goal of the tournament, bringing the Vees home to capture the first Okanagan Cup. 

Perets turned aside 17 of the 19 shots he faced in his ninth Okanagan Cup victory while MacInnes stopped 20 of the 23 shots thrown his way with his second overtime loss of the tournament.  

The Vees will be taking two weeks off ahead of the BC Hockey League’s regular season, set to start up in early December. Updates and Vees’ News will be posted though the team’s website as well as the social media channels.

Photo: Jasmine Aantjes